


A Human of His Own

by Argyle_S



Series: A Bond Of Their Own [1]
Category: Bumblebee (2018), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Alien/Human Relationships, F/M, GI Joe Crossover if you know your characters, Past Bumblebee/Hot Rod, Past Bumblebee/Windblade, Robot/Human Relationships, Size Kink, Spark Sexual Interfacing (Transformers), Sticky Sexual Interfacing, Telepathic Bond, Transformers Spark Bonds, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:08:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28283724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Argyle_S/pseuds/Argyle_S
Summary: When Optimus Prime decides to appoint Arcee, Bulkhead and Jazz as the protectors of three human children, Bumblebee isn't happy, but he finds a way to be.
Relationships: Bumblebee/Charlie Watson
Series: A Bond Of Their Own [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2104146
Comments: 17
Kudos: 71
Collections: CharBee Anniversary





	A Human of His Own

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [Charbee Anniversary](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Charbee2020). Sorry it's a couple of days later. Thanks to [YoukaiYume](https://archiveofourown.org/users/YoukaiYume/pseuds/YoukaiYume) for the feedback and help making this a better story.

It was late, even by Cybertronian standards, and Bumblebee knew he should be racked out getting his nightly stasis in, but the day had left him feeling angry and bitter. For the last four years, the rules had been simple. No contact with humans other than Sector 7 and the military personnel on the base. Bee had hated it, but he’d followed the rules. He never contacted Her during his monthly trips back to Brighton Falls and he always made sure to scan a new alt mode before going. The military was good like that. They kept the shiny new muscle car he usually wore tuned and ready to be scanned whenever he needed it, but they also kept a rotating library of random, low profile cars that any of the scouts could scan for a little extra cover.

Tonight though, he walked right past the library, and right past the muscle car that had become his ‘default’ alt mode, to a small bay that held a car that he had personally found in a scrap yard and spend almost all of his spare time restoring and modifying until it to suit him. A 1975 Volkswagen Le Grande Beetle. One of the mechanics on the base, a red head named Courtney who reminded be a lot of Her, had spent a lot of time helping him supe the car up. Courtney had helped him strip the faded green paint, hammer out the dents and dings, and paint it his signature yellow. They’d added a supercharge, performance cold air intakes and exhaust, upgraded the fuel injection system, rebored the engine, added a wide torque converter and done a ton of other tweaks and upgrades until they were getting close to 240 horsepower out of it. All of which was nice for making it a practical alt mode, but he had only ever really cared about the project for one reason. It wasn’t the exact same model he’d been when he was with Her, but it was close enough.

Bumblebee made sure no one else was around before he scanned the Beetle, and them transformed. He let out an ex-vent of pleasure. Of all the alt modes he’d had, this one was the one he loved the most. Not because of the performance or the style but because it reminded him of Her and that made wearing it feel a little like home.

He transformed again and headed for the door that connected the vehicle library with the deployment bay.

“Bee?”

Bee lifted a hand and waved at the lone soldier manning the deployment bay. “Hey, Seymore,” he said. “Gotcha working nights?”

“Yes sir,” Seymore replied. “I didn’t see a departure scheduled, sir?”

“No reason you would. This is last minute,” Bee said as he walked over to the Autobot sided ground bridge controls and typed in a set of coordinates he knew by spark. “Log the departure under my authority. Mission type is threat assessment, risk level: two.”

“Yes sir.”

Risk level two indicated that while there was no expectation of Decepticon contact, there was a slightly elevated risk, so someone would need to be ready for a hot return, just in case. Bee wasn’t really worried. The chances of running into a Decepticon were miniscule, and even if he did, there were a hundred and thirty Autobots on the base, and another six hundred human special forces troops. He could call for backup rather than risk a Decepticon getting through the ground bridge. The biggest risk was the absolute reaming he expected to get from pretty much every bot who ranked him, and probably a few of the junior bots who were getting a little bit big for their britches. After what had happened that afternoon he didn’t give a frag anymore.

He pulled the activation level for the ground bridge and watched as the bay filled with the blue green glow. He shifted into his alt mode and drove through the portal, exiting in the same clearing he always did whenever he undertook one of his personal recon missions. Once clear of the bridge he took the small dirt path he’d made over the last few years through the trees and bushes until he came to a small two-lane road then he turned south.

* * *

Bumblebee sat in the back corner of the parking lot of an all-night diner, waiting for a bit more reasonable hour. He figured eight would be good, which meant just another fifteen minutes of waiting. Waiting he would really rather do in piece, but unfortunately, it seemed like Optimus wasn’t going to give him that option.

“Autobot command to Bumblebee, do you read?” Optimus said over Bumblebee’s com line. Bee considered for a moment not answering, but however angry he was, this was Optimus and he couldn’t stop himself from opening the com line and replying.

“Bumblebee to Autobot command. I read you.”

“Report your status.”

“Doing a sweep for Decepticon activity,” Bee said. “Should be back in a day or two.”

“I see. Do you have any reason to suspect Decepticon activity in San Francisco?”

“Just that there are still slightly elevated levels of energon radiation in the area. Since they don’t know a couple of Decepticons were offlined in the area, I’m worried they might send a scouting party looking for energon deposits.”

“The Decepticons have been avoiding populated areas,” Optimus said.

“Until they rolled into Jasper two days ago,” Bumblebee said.

“Bumblebee-“

“Okay, fine. I’m taking a couple of personal days. You have a hundred and twenty-nine other bots. Let one of them pull their weight for a change.”

“Bumblebee, I understand why you’re upset-“

“Do you?” Bee asked. “I’ve spent the last four years asking if I could just go visit for a day or two and getting told how we can’t risk contact with humans. But I followed the rules every day, no matter how much I wanted to see her. But Jazz, Arcee and Bulkhead decide to flash their base modes in public, and now the base is a daycare for three random kids, but I’m still not allowed to see the girl who put me back together after Blitzwing nearly offlined me, helped me offline Shatter and Dropkick, and stop a full scale Decepticon invasion of Earth. How is that fair?”

“It’s not,” Optimus said. “But the terms of our agreement with the humans-“

“An agreement that wouldn’t have been possible without her,” Bee snapped. He heard Optimus ex-vent, and he knew exactly what was going to come next. “Before you say what I know you’re about to say, Optimus, I want to remind you of something you told me the first time you put me in command of a squad. You said the one thing a leader should never, ever do is give an order he knows won’t be followed.”

“I see.”

“I’ll be back in a day or two,” Bee said. “You should tell Burns whatever you need to tell him to make this okay, because agreement or no agreement, it’s happening.”

There was a long moment of silence before Optimus spoke again. “I’ll speak with Burns. I hope you find what you need. And Bumblebee, please, be careful.”

“I always am,” Bee said before he cut the com link. He checked the time, and decided it was close enough to eight, so he projected his holoform in the driver’s seat and pulled out of the parking lot.

The drive to Her home from the diner was fairly short. Not as short as he would have liked, but he didn’t what to leave any residual e-rad concentration near her place. He just wanted to see his friend, and maybe spend a little time with her. He might be young by bot standards, but he wasn’t so young that he could pretend he didn’t know why he needed to see Her so badly. Watching Optimus assign Arcee, Bulkhead and Jazz as Jack, Miko and Raf’s guardians the day before had torn open a wound that had never really stopped bleeding. It didn’t really make sense, not really. There were bots he’d known and worked with for thousands of stellar cycles whose absence didn’t pull at him the way Her’s did, but the few days he’d spent with Her had changed something in him. There was no more casual, post mission interfacing with Windblade to burn off stress and excess energy, or half drunken tumbles with Hot Rod when the names and faces of the fallen were a little too hard to forget. Instead, every moment of the four years they’d been apart tore at him. He ached for Her. Every time he’d slipped back into town to sneak a peak at her was like rubbing rust in the wound, but he couldn’t stop himself, even if he’d wanted too. Just the sight of Her kept him going when all he wanted to do was lay down and offline.

He loved her. He whole sparkedly loved her, and for four years, he’d done it from afar, living on stolen glances and memories. Today was different. Today there would be no furtive glances from across a parking lot. Today there would be no carefully tailing her just to feel like she was still a part of his life. Today, he rolled right up to her house, and after a quick thermal scan, right into the driveway. Once he shut off his engine, his holoform climbed out, headed up to the door or the house, and knocked.

* * *

“I’ve got it,” Charlie said as she headed towards the door. She had to dodge around Conan, something she hadn’t missed while she was away at college, but she reached the door before a second knock came and glanced out through the peephole. She frowned slightly at the sight of a dark-haired Latina girl about her age standing on the porch, looking nervous. Charlie considered reaching for the baseball bat they kept near the door but decided against it. After all, the girl wasn’t government. Since Bumblebee, Charlie had a lot of practice spotting people whose first name was agent. She opened the door and gave the girl her best customer service smile.

“Hello,” Charlie said.

“Hey,” the girl said, then turned and pointed towards the driveway. “A friend of yours wanted to know if you were free today.”

Charlie turned towards the driveway, and her heart skipped a beat at the sight of the bright yellow Beetle sitting there.

“Yes,” Charlie said. She turned back to the girl. “Tell him to give me a couple of minutes to get dressed.”

The girl smiled. “Take your time.”

“Do, um… Do you want to come in and wait?”

“No,” the girl said. “I’ll wait in the car.”

“Okay.”

Charlie looked over at Bee for a minute, reluctant to go back inside incase he disappeared again. She’d dreamed of this almost every day for the last four years, but none of those dreams had involved her rushing out to see Bee wearing an old bathrobe over a ratty t-shirt and a pair of boxers.

“Just… don’t let him leave, okay?” Charlie asked.

“Trust me, he’s not going anywhere,” the girl said.

Charlie nodded and closed the door, then rushed for her bedroom.

Four years. She’d dreamed of this for four years, and of course he shows up when she hasn’t showered and looks terrible. Not that he would really care what she looked like. Not that she was even sure why she cared what she looked like.

God, why did she feel so nervous? It was just Bee. Her friend, who had probably spent more time with her in grease stained coveralls, or bruised and battered than he had spent with her dressed up and looking her best. Bee, who was apparently hanging around with some gorgeous girl about her age.

She frowned at that thought, not really sure why it bothered her, but for some reason it did. She did her best to shake it off as she grabbed a towel and some clean clothes and headed for the shower. She’d just made it to the door of the bathroom when she heard her mother’s voice.

“Who was at the door?”

“Just a friend,” Charlie said.

“Which friend?” her mom asked.

“From school. You wouldn’t know her. She asked if I wanted to spend the day with her, so I’m going to do that.”

“You can’t!” 

“What?” Charlie asked.

“You have a job interview at two.”

“Oh, yeah. I haven’t forgotten,” Charlie said, even though she had the moment she saw Bee. “She’s going to drop me at the interview and pick me up after.”

“You’re sure?” her mom asked.

“Yes,” Charlie said. “Mom, I’ve gotta go.” She didn’t wait for her mom’s answer, just ducked into the bathroom to grab a shower.

* * *

It was hard to fidget when you were supposed to be an inanimate object. Normally, when Bee felt nervous while in his alt mode, he played with the window lock button, but the Beetle didn’t have power windows, so there was no button to fiddle with.

Seeing Charlie again, even for just a moment through his holoform, had knocked him for a loop, and he felt like is processor was going to overheat. Did Charlie want to see him? She seemed like she did, but maybe she just wanted to tell him to stay away? Did she still feel the connection between them the way he did? Had she missed him? Should he have come in his Camaro form? Would she like his voice? Was she courting someone?

That last thought made his processor skip a cycle. He’d always thought Charlie was amazing, but over the last four years, he’d learned enough to know that by human standards she would make a highly desirable mate. She was beautiful, intelligent, brave and kind. Cybertronian’s might put a bit less emphasis on physical appearance, because it was something so variable for them, but the other characteristics were ones which a Cybertronian would look for in a mate as well. It would make sense for her to have a mate, but the thought made his spark hurt.

Bee tried to push that feeling aside, but it was hard. He loved her so much it hurt. He wanted to be with her all the time, and there was a tiny little voice in the back of his helm that insisted that Charlie was his, and a selfish part of him that didn’t want to share, no matter how impossible things were between them.

Before he could process how ridiculous that thought was, the door to the house opened, and Charlie stepped out, and for a moment, Bee found himself unable to vent. She looked even more beautiful than he remembered. Maybe some of that was relief at getting to see her up close and talk to her after longing for her company for so long, but it didn’t matter. He flung open the driver’s side door and felt giddy when Charlie effortlessly slid into the driver’s seat.

“Hey, Bee,” Charlie said, and for the first time in a long time, Bee felt happy.

“Just so it’s not a surprise, Bee’s got his voice back,” he said through his holoform.

“Really?” Charlie asked.

“Really,” Bee said. “I didn’t want you to panic and think I was an imposter or something.”

Charlie smiled and ran her hand over the center of his steering wheel, where the Autobot insignia was. Bee felt himself shudder slightly at the touch.

“Who’s your friend, Bee?”

“No friend,” Bee said. “She’s a Holoform. A tech upgrade to help us blend in, since people tend to panic when they see a car without a driver.”

Bee used the holoform to look around and make sure no one could see them, then waved to Charlie. “I’ll leave you and Bee alone,” he had the holoform say before he turned it off.

“Woah!” Charlie said. “That is a neat trick.”

Bee couldn’t help but preen, just a little. “You want to go for a ride?”

“Yeah,” Charlie said. “And hurry, before my mom sees you.”

Bee laughed as he backed out of the driveway. Feeling lighter than he had since the night he got his memories back. “Just like old times.”

Charlie smiled. “Yeah, just like old times.”

Bee backed out of the driveway and headed back the way he came. He wasn’t sure what they were going to do later, but he really just wanted to go someplace private and talk to her for a bit first.

As they drove, silence filled the air, and Bee wondered if it was just because neither of them knew where to start, or if time was going to make things awkward between them. He hoped not, because right now, he needed Charlie probably as much as he had when she’d found him in that junkyard.

“So… Um… How have you been?” Charlie asked.

“Tired,” Bee said. “Lonely. I’ve missed you a lot.”

“Don’t you have friends?”

“Yeah,” Bee said. “But… You know, maybe this could wait until we get where we’re going. It’s a long story.”

“Okay,” Charlie said. “Is their anything I can do to help?”

“Tell me about you,” Bee said. “What have you been doing while I’ve been gone?”

“I went to college,” Charlie said. “I wanted to go to trade school, but mom insisted.”

“Did you enjoy it?”

“Mostly…” Charlie said. “I did a dual major in mechanical and electrical engineering. I figured it would come in handy if I ever ran across any other giant alien robots pretending to be classic cars in a junkyard.”

Bee laughed, keeping the fact that he knew most of this to himself. Despite getting off on the wrong foot, once Bee and Optimus had worked out a deal with Sector 7, Burns had been surprisingly understanding about Bee’s desire to know how Charlie was doing. Bee had gotten weekly reports on Charlie. Still, hearing it from her was better. It made him feel more connected than surveillance reports ever could.

“Does that happen to you a lot?”

“Just once so far, but I keep hoping,” Charlie said.

“I don’t know. I might get jealous if you pick up another Cybertronian.”

“Aww, Bee, you’ll always be my first.”

Bee was very glad he wasn’t in robot mode right at that moment, because he was sure his expression would have given him away right then, because his processor went somewhere it shouldn’t.

“So, where are we headed?” Charlie asked.

“I was thinking we could go back to that place in the woods where you found the recording from Optimus. I thought we could talk there without having to worry about people seeing me.”

“That’s a good idea,” Charlie said.

“You don’t have to sound so surprised.”

Charlie grinned. “You are the one who tried to hide behind a rock the size of Conan.”

“To be fair, I was like, a day old at the time.”

“Excuses, excuses.”

They fell into silence again, but this time, there wasn’t any awkwardness. It was just comfortable, just him and Charlie, together again. It felt right, in a way very little had the last four years.

* * *

“I’d forgotten how beautiful this place was,” Charlie said as they walked through the woods.

“You haven’t been back?” Bee asked.

“No,” Charlie said. “At first, it hurt too much. Coming here would have reminded me of you, that you were out there, fighting a war, and that I couldn’t help. Then I started college, and I got busy, which was good. It kept me from worrying about you all the time.”

“There wasn’t a lot to worry about, to be honest,” Bee said.

“Are you ready to talk about it?” Charlie asked.

Bee nodded and carefully lowered himself to the forest floor, sitting down with his legs out in front of him. Charlie climbed up onto him and sat down on his leg.

“I like your new face,” Charlie said.

“What?” Bee asked. “Oh… Yeah. It’s been so long I’d forgotten I changed it, but humans react better to things that look more like them. Having a mouth, being able to smile… It helps.”

Charlie frowned and she reached up and put a hand on his chest plate, directly above his spark chamber. “You shouldn’t have to change yourself just to make humans happy.”

“I don’t mind,” Bee said honestly. “Change is a fundamental part of who we are as cybertronians. Change is how we survive, and how we thrive. It’s written into our genetic code, and we have an organ whose sole purpose is to rearrange our form. I’ve had to change for a lot worse reasons.”

“It’s still not fair,” Charlie said. “You were beautiful the way you were.”

Bee smiled and leaned forward just a bit. Charlie seemed to take the hint, and climbed to her feet, then wrapped her arms around Bee’s neck. Bee returned the hug, carefully wrapping Charlie in his arms, and squeezing just enough to feel pressure but not enough to hurt her.

“Primus, I’ve missed you,” Bee said.

“I’ve missed you too,” Charlie said. They stay there for a long time, just holding each other, and Bee never wanted it to end, but eventually, Charlie let go and pulled away, and Bee took it as his queue to let her go.

“Now, tell me what’s bothering you,” Charlie said in a tone that brooked no argument.

“The war is starting again,” Bee said. “We’ve spent the last four years without seeing a single Decepticon, but three days ago, a group of Cons jumped one of our scouts. A bot named Tailgate. There were six of them, but Tailgate’s a tough bot. He managed to hold them off until the ready reaction team could get to him. We ended up taking down the entire squad of Decepticons, but…”

“But their here, and the war is going to start again,” Charlie said.

“Yeah,” Bee said. “We spent the last four years building an alliance with the humans who handed me over to the Decepticons and then tried to murder me. We built a base, we stockpiled energon, we’ve been growing protoforms so we can make new bots to fill the ranks, we’ve patrolled as much of the planet as we’ve been allowed to, and we’ve watched the sky to try and see if you could spot the Decepticons when they arrive, but now it’s happened, and I just… I feel cheated.”

“What do you mean?”

“One of the rules we agreed to when made the alliance with Sector Seven is no contact with any humans who aren’t part of Sector Seven, or the military unit assigned to our base.” Bee reached up and ran his finger over Charlie’s hair, feeling his spark swell when she leaned into his touch. “That’s why I never visited. I wanted to. Every day I was away, I wanted to come and see you, and it killed me not to. I’d scan different vehicles and come back to Brighton Falls to check on you, and every time I saw you, I wanted to pull up and say hi, to take you for a drive, to show you what we’ve done. But the rules said I couldn’t, the rules said no contact, and I had to follow the rules.”

“Something changed though,” Charlie said.

“The day after Tailgate got jumped, a pair of Cons went after a bot named Arcee in the town near our base. The fight got nasty, and a couple of kids got into the middle of it. They saw three Autobots and two Decepticons in their base modes, and the Cons got a pretty good look at Arcee, Jazz and Bulkhead defending the kids, so Optimus decided that the Autobots are going to be the kids’ guardians until we’re sure the threat has passed.

“I know he’s right. I know the kids are in danger, and that we’re the only ones who can protect them, but all I’ve been able to think about was how unfair it is. And maybe you wouldn’t have even wanted me to come around, maybe you would have been happier if I didn’t, but I didn’t even get the chance to find out, one way or the other.”

“But you’re here now,” Charlie said.

“I’m not supposed to be. I might get thrown in the stockade when I go back. I just don’t care anymore. The war is starting again, and I might get offlined any day, and the thought of joining the well of all sparks without seeing you again was too much. I know how that sounds. I know it’s a lot. We only knew each other for a few days, but I can’t help it. I’ve been fighting for so long, skirmishes, battles, campaigns, nothing but war and pain and death for tens of thousands of Vorn. The time I spent with you was the first time in more than a million stellar cycles that I knew what peace felt like, and even if I didn’t have my memories, even if I was afraid, I was happy.”

For a moment, there was nothing but silence in the clearing, and Bee wondered if he’d said to much, if he’d scared her away, but then Charlie lifted her hands, and Bee leaned down and closed his optics as he felt her hands on his face, just like the first night when he woke up in her garage.

“What can I do to help?” Charlie asked.

“Just tell me I didn’t make a mistake coming here,” Bee said. “Tell me you wanted me here.”

“Always,” Charlie said. “A day hasn’t passed in four years that I didn’t think of you, didn’t wish you were here with me. I didn’t look at a single yellow car without wondering if it was you, coming back to me.” She leaned forward, resting her forehead against Bee’s. “Not a day goes by that I don’t wish I’d gone with you.”

Bee wrapped his arms around Charlie again, and held her close, wishing hard that this moment would never end.

* * *

“Tell me about you,” Bee asked softly. The same question he’d asked her before.

Charlie looked up at him, taking in the lines of his new face. It wasn’t that different from the old one. The grill and the surrounding plate where gone, exposing the lower part of his nose and a mouth that was currently turned up in what she thought was a contented grin. It was just past noon, and Bee was sitting with his back against a thick tree, with his arms crossed in front of him, making a seat for her as she leaned against the warm metal plates of his chest. It was funny. This was the sort of thing the people she’d dated in college had tried to get her to enjoy, but it never felt right with any of them, but now, she couldn’t think of anywhere else she’d rather be.

“What do you want to know?” she asked.

“Everything,” Bee said. “What was college like? Did you have fun? Are you happy?”

“Big questions,” Charlie said. “College was like high school without a lot of the bullshit. There were no jocks making asses of themselves in the cafeteria, no mean girls trying to punish you for existing and not being rich. People left you alone, mostly. I liked it. It was fun sometimes. I got to focus on things I wanted to learn, and I met a few people I liked, so it was a lot less lonely than high school, and Memo was there, so that was nice.”

“How is Memo?” Bee asked, and Charlie thought she heard a hesitancy in his voice, which didn’t make any sense.

“In love,” Charlie said. “He fell hard for his roommate freshman year, and the two of them have been inseparable ever since. They’re so cute together it’s ridiculous. They both managed to land jobs at the same place down in Palo Alto.”

She could have sworn she felt Bee relax just a bit, but she must have been imagining it.

“As for being happy, I’m trying, I really am, but I feel like something is missing. I have these degrees, and I keep going to these job interviews, but it just feels so trivial, you know. It’s hard, waking up knowing that there’s this huge war being fought for control of the galaxy, that people like you are out there risking their lives protecting us from the Decepticons, then going to work designing exhaust fans, or roller bearings. I feel like I should be doing more, but I don’t know what.”

“I remember what that felt like,” Bee said. “When I first joined the Autobots, they had me doing currier runs in green zones, and I wanted to be out on the front lines, fighting.”

“What happened?” Charlie asked.

“One of the green zones turned out to be a lot less secure than command thought. I got jumped by a trine of seekers.” Bee frowned. “What were their names… Firefall, Razorwind and Skyburst. They weren’t the big Tetrajets, like Starscream’s pack, or the rainmakers, just a light scout unit. Still bigger than me, and it was three against one.”

“What did you do?”

“Shot out a guard rail and drove off the elevated highway, which is every bit as crazy as it sounds. I spent three groons playing Nitrotiger and zapmouse in the undercity with a shattered piston in my left Cadulen until Windblade showed up with Maxima and Skydancer and pulled my skid-plate out of the fire.”

“What’s a Cadulen?”

“Lower part of the leg. A calf on a human.”

Charlie stared at be for a moment, picturing him limping around underground while three bigger bots chased him for hours. The image was nearly enough to stop her heart, but Bumblebee didn’t seem to notice.

“Primus, I haven’t thought about that day in Vorns.”

“Were you scared?”

“Yeah,” Bee said. “I was terrified. I’d gotten jumped in the green zone, which was supposed to be absolutely secure. I wasn’t sure what that meant. I thought maybe the Decepticons had broken our lines and overrun the whole region. I didn’t know if help was coming, or if there was even anyone left for command to send. For all I knew, the war was over, and we had lost, and I was just some dumb sparkling who was going to die for intel that was already useless. I was sure I was done for right up until I saw Windblade.”

“Who’s Windblade?”

“She’s one of my oldest friends. She’s a flyer from Caminus. If you meet her, you’ll understand why I knew I was safe the moment I saw her. She’s got this air about her, like Unicron himself would run if he saw her.”

Charlie felt a stab of jealousy in her chest at the way Bee was talking about Windblade, and at the look in his eye.

“Are you and her a couple?” she asked, only to kick herself, because it wasn’t really her business.

“No,” Bee said with a gentle shake of his head. “We’re friends.” He shifted slightly, and Charlie had the distinct impression that he was a little embarrassed. “She and I have, um… I think ‘been together’ is the term humans use. Same with my friend Hot Rod. But it was never serious. What’s that human term Courtney mentioned? Friends with Benefits.”

Charlie stared up at Bee for a moment as her mind turned what he said over. ‘Been together’ and ‘friends with benefits’ implied something very specific, and it was possible that Bee was using the term wrong, but if he wasn’t… Charlie felt heat rising in her cheeks.

“Are you okay?” Bee asked. “Your face is changing color.”

“Yeah,” Charlie said. “I’m fine. I just… I didn’t realize you um…”

Bee tilted his head slightly.

“That we what?”

Charlie bit her lip, trying to figure out how to phrase this. “What you said, ‘being together’ and ‘friends with benefits’, it implies um… things.”

Bee started down at her for a moment, and then, to Charlie’s surprise, a faint blue glow began leaking out from the seams in Bee’s face plates.

“Oh,” Bee said. “You didn’t know that we interface.”

“Interface,” Charlie said, testing the term out.

“Yeah,” Bee said. “The humans on the base used a different term. I remember them being surprised when they found out, but it kind of slipped my mind. The reaming Optimus gave Arcee and Springer for interfacing in the training room was a lot bigger gossip.”

“They were going at it in the training room?” Charlie asked.

Bee shook his head. “You have to know Arcee and Springer for it to make sense. No one is sure if they love each other or hate each other, but every time they get into a fight, they end up Interfacing. Walking in on them is kind of a right of passage. I’m not sure Optimus will even give you your Autobot badge until you’ve seen the without their modesty plates.”

Charlie shifted slightly, leaning into Bee but not meeting his eyes. “What’s that like, for you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Interfacing. What’s it like?”

“You mean the mechanics, or how it feels?”

She glanced up at Bee, seeing the blue glow getting a bit brighter. “Both.”

“Okay,” Bee said. “Um, from what I know about humans, it’s not that different when it comes to mechanics, except that well all have a spike and a valve.”

“Spike and valve?”

“Yeah. Humans just have one or the other. At least, that’s what the medical training said.”

“Oh… Um, yeah,” Charlie said, a little taken aback by the idea that Bee had a dick and a vagina.

“I think the main difference is spark rings. They’re rings on the outside of the spike and the inside of the valve that connect to our spark. Having your valve or your spike touched feels good, but when spark rings connect, you can actually feel each other’s spark. It’s… intense, and intimate. A lot of times, bots who are just looking for a bit of pleasure will do other things to reach overload.”

“Overload?”

The blue glow behind Bee’s faceplates got a little brighter. “Overload is this moment where the sensation get to be more than your processor can really handle. Your whole body feels this amazing, intense pleasure. Sometimes, some bots will even need a soft reboot after.”

Charlie turned over what Bee had said in her mind. An Overload sounded a lot like an orgasm to her, but she was surprised by the fact that Cybertronians had both sets of organs. And spark rings… She wondered if they glowed with the same sort of blue light that was peaking out of Bee’s faceplate. She had so many questions about it all, but some of them felt a little dangerous. She’d never had sex, but it wasn’t from a lack of interest. She took care of that particular itch herself three or four nights a week, but she had never gotten far enough along in the dating process to go there. She’d started to wonder if it was just men, so she’d taken advantage of the fact that she was going to college in San Francisco and tried her hand at women without any more success. She’d started to wonder if she just wasn’t into sex with other people, but the images going through her mind made her wonder if she was just looking at the wrong kind of people, because sitting there in Bee’s arms, thinking about him having sex was doing things to her.

She shifted slightly, squeezing her thighs together to try to ease the ache building there while telling herself she shouldn’t be perving on her best friend. He was a different species. He had this Hot Rod and Windblade, and given how amazing he was, how strong and smart and brave, she had to imagine he could have his pick of any of the Autobots he wanted. Just because they were friends, just because he missed her, didn’t mean he’d indulge some silly crush.

“What about you?” Bee asked.

“What?” Charlie asked.

“What’s it like for you? Interfacing. Or… What did the humans on base call it? Fucking. Is that right?”

Charlie had to bite her lip to keep from moaning. There was something about hearing Bee saying ‘fucking’ that was just sinful.

“Fucking isn’t a polite word for it,” Charlie said. “It’s considered crude. Most people would say ‘making love’ or ‘having sex’.”

“Sorry,” Bee said.

“It’s okay,” Charlie said. “I don’t mind. I just didn’t want you to get embarrassed if you said the wrong thing in the wrong company.”

“That’s my Charlie. Always taking care of me.”

Charlie closed her eyes and rested her head against Bee’s chest plate as her heart hammered in her chest. Those words, ‘my Charlie’ doing more damage than everything Bee had said about sex put together. Those words sounded right. They sounded perfect. Four years, and a day hadn’t passed that she didn’t wish she’d gone with him, that she didn’t miss the feel of his arms around her, or the sight of his gentle blue eyes, or the feel of his warm plates under her hands. Those two words made her think of what it would be like to be his, for him to wrap her up in big strong arms and carry her off, to come home to him every night, to have someone she knew she could trust with her life and her heart and who would always be there for her.

Four years, and those two little words made her realize why the dating had never worked out, why it always felt wrong trying to be with anyone. She’d already given her heart away, and never realized it.

She reached up and lay her hand on the center of his chest plate. “I wouldn’t know,” she said.

* * *

The words hit Bee like the time he’d gotten punched in the face by Soundwave.

“You wouldn’t?” he asked, feeling a mixture of surprise and relief. Surprise that no human had come along and started a courtship with her, and relief that she wasn’t bonded to someone. It gave him hope that he would get what he came here for.

Charlie shook her head. “I’ve never been with anyone that way. I’ve kissed a couple of people, but I never felt enough to go any further with them.”

“Why not?” Bee asked.

Charlie smiled up at him. “Well, I met this guy a few years back. Big, tough soldier, but really just a softy at heart. He was kind, sweet, funny, strong and just amazing. Saved the world right in front of me. Kind of a tough act to follow.”

Bee felt as if his spark had skipped a cycle. Was she saying what he thought she was saying, or was that too much to hope for?

“How long can you stay?” Charlie asked.

Bee frowned at the change in topic, wanting to see if Charlie meant what he thought, but he answered her question instead. “I told Optimus I’d be here for a day or two, but I don’t know if I can stay that long. If things really are heating up with the Decepticons, I could get called back any time.”

“You won’t be able to come back, will you?” Charlie asked.

“No,” he said. “Probably not. I’m breaking the rules being here, and it’s not a good idea for us to get into the habit of going back to the same place over and over again.”

Charlie didn’t say anything, and Bee was afraid to say anything else. He could see the look on her face, see her struggling with a decision. It was almost thirty cycles before she looked up at him again, and asked, “Why are you here, Bee?”

He’d answered that question earlier, but he also knew that wasn’t what she was really asking. He wasn’t sure why she wasn’t being more direct, but he thought that maybe, just maybe, she was as scared of the question as he was. He was scared she would say no, and she was scared that he wasn’t here to ask, but instead, to say goodbye.

“I want you to come with me,” he said. “Please. I know you couldn’t last time, but please, Charlie. I don’t think I can do this anymore without you.”

“I’ll come with you,” she said.

“Really?”

“Really,” Charlie said.

Bee scooped Charlie up and hugged her, rocking back and forth as he held her in his arms as he got to his feet and started dancing around the clearing.

“It’s going to be great,” Bee said. “You’re going to get to meet Windblade, and Hot Rod, and Bulkhead and Hubcap, and Wheeljack, and Blurr, and Arcee, and Ratchet, and Grimlock. Oh, you’re going to love Grimlock, and Wheeljack is going to adore you and Blurr is going to try to get you to soup up his engine and Jazz! You and Jazz and going to get along great! He’s really into music and… Wait, no. No! You’re definitely not allowed anywhere near Jazz.”

Charlie laughed and wrapped her arms around Bee’s neck, and Bee squeezed her just a little bit tighter.

“Primus, I love you,” he whispered.

* * *

“What?”

Bee stopped dancing. In fact, he stopped moving, and stood there, holding her, still as a statue. Charlie let go of his neck and pulled back so she could see his face and she could see fear in his eyes. The same fear she’d seen in the first moments they met, when he’d cowered in a corner, terrified of her.

“I’m sorry,” he said, lowering his head. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”

Charlie reached down and put her hand under his chin, tilting it up so he was looking at her.

“What did you say?” she asked.

“I… I said I love you.”

Charlie felt her breath hitch at the words she wasn’t sure she’d heard right the first time. Her heart was pounding in her chest, because this couldn’t be real. She thought back to the way her heart had fluttered earlier when he’s said ‘my Charlie’, the words that made her realize what she’d been wanting, had been pining for ever since the day he left, and how perfect it had felt to imagine a life where she was his, where they were together. Before today, it hadn’t been something she’d even considered, much less something she realized she wanted. Now, after hearing the words from Bumblebee, she couldn’t imagine wanting anything else.

She slipped her hand up from under his chin to rest on his cheek, her thumb tracing over the seems of his face plates, and almost immediately, he closed his eyes and turned into her touch.

“Did you mean it?” she asked.

He opened his eyes and looked up at her. “Every word.”

She leaned forward, covering his lips with her own, kissing him softly. The moment her lips made contact with his, she felt his grip tighten. She opened her mouth and ran her tongue over his lips. It was different from any kiss she’d had before. There was none of the bristly feeling of a shaved face with a touch of five o’clock shadow she’d felt kissing boys, but none of the yielding softness she’d found kissing girls. She was surprised to find his lips were warm, and surprised that they didn’t taste of metal. The taste was familiar, though she couldn’t quite place it, but then he opened his mouth, and she was surprised again. His mouth was wet where she’d expected it to be dry, and he tasted like lemon juice, sharp and tart, but there was a tingled like there was a current running through his mouth.

She wasn’t sure who broke the kiss. She thought, from the way she was panting, maybe it was her, but whoever it was, she found herself still being held off the ground in Bee’s arms as she stared into those big blue eyes.

“Is this what you want?” she asked. “Is this why you came back? Because you want to be with me like you were with Windblade and Hot Rod?”

Bee shook his head. “Not like that,” he said, and Charlie felt a surge of disappointment, but it was short lived, because Bee wasn’t done. “I want to be with you, I want to interface with you, I want to make lover with you, but that’s not enough. Charlie, I love you. I’ve lived for eons, but I’ve never felt like this. I don’t just want you to be a friend that I interface with. I came back here because I couldn’t stand the thought of never seeing you again. I hoped, I begged Primus himself for you to come with me when I go back to the base, because I don’t want to live a life without you in it, and if all you ever were to me was a friend, that would have been enough, because at least I would have you. But if you ask me what I want deep down in my spark, I want you to be my Conjunx Endura.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’m not sure if humans have a word for it,” Bee said. “A Conjunx is a partner, a friend, but more than both of those. They are the person you swear to love as long as your spark burns. They are a part of you, forever. The used to be called Sparkmates, because becoming Conjunx involves mingling your sparks.”

“Will that even work with a human?” Charlie asked.

“I don’t know, but I want to try. I want to give you a piece of me and carry a piece of you inside me forever.” Bee lowered his head. “I don’t know if you’d want that with me. If it’s too much or too soon, I’ll understand. I’ll take whatever you give me, just as long as you’re in my life. I’m not sure I can survive going back without you.”

Charlie stared at Bee for a moment, turning over what he said in her mind. She knew that if she went with him, she wouldn’t be going as a friend. She couldn’t imagine knowing he wanted her, and not wanting him in return. He meant so much to her. He was her savior, her protector, her champion, her best friend, and she loved him. That might have been a new realization, but it was no less true for that. She loved him, and if she went, she would be all in. His friend, his lover, his Sparkmate if the joining process would work for a human. So the decision came down to whether or not she was going with him, and she’d already made that decision.

“Bee…” she said, and Bee looked up at her, fear in his eyes. Fear of losing her, fear of her not wanting him. It was an easy fear to put to rest. “Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yes. Yes to all of it. Yes, I’ll go with you. Yes, I’ll be with you. Yes, I’ll be your Sparkmate if we can make it work with a human.” She reached out and took his face in her hands as she leaned in. “Yes, I love you too,” she said softly before kissing him again.

She felt his grip on her shift, felt her weight settle entirely on one hand, as he began running his fingers over her, and she thought for a moment she was going to die her heart was pounding so rapidly. He wasn’t even touching her anywhere special, just rubbing her fingers up and down her spine, but it lit a need in her that normally had her locking her bedroom door and slipping her hand between her legs. She broke the kiss and reached down, grabbing the hem of her shirt and pulling it off.

Bee’s eyes glowed a little brighter. “Here?” he asked, as if he couldn’t quite believe it.

“Here,” Charlie said as she reached behind her. She unclasped her bra, and shrugged it off, letting it fall to the ground. “Now.”

Bee left his fingers on her back but adjusted his hand so his thumb rested on her stomach. He started rubbing slow circles there, and warm metal sliding easily over Charlie’s skin, stoking the building need between her legs.

“I love you,” he said in a reverent voice as he shifted his thumb, running it over her breast. She sucked in a sharp breath when his thumb scraped over a hard nipple. “Oh, you like that?”

Charlie nodded, thinking about the nights she’d waited until everyone else in the house was asleep before she locked her door, shed her clothes, and let her hands wander, imagining some faceless lover touching her. She’d always loved the feel of her hands on her breasts, of teasing and pinching her nipples, and now Bee was doing it for her, and it was so much better than doing it herself.

His thumb shifted, moving down to run along her thigh. “Can these come off?”

“Yes,” Charlie said. “But you’ll have to put me down first.”

Charlie could see the reluctance to let go of her in Bee’s eyes, but he lowered her to the ground, leaving her standing in front of him. She smiled up at him as she kicked off her shoes.

“Lay down,” she said, and Bee lowered himself to the forest floor, his eyes never leaving her as she unbuttoned her pants. She didn’t waste any time trying to be coy or seductive. She just pushed her jeans and her panties down in one motion and stepped out of them, then took a moment to strip off her socks, leaving herself naking in front of Bee.

He reached out, touching her carefully, letting his hands wander over her, touching her everywhere. Her shoulders, her breasts, her stomach, her arms, the outside of her legs, then the inside. As his fingers rose higher, moving closer to where she wanted them, she felt a touch of shyness come over here. Bee was looking at her so intently, but Charlie was thinking about their earlier conversation, and the fact that her body might not live up to Bee’s expectations.

“Does it… Does it bother you that I don’t have a spike?” Charlie ask.

“No,” Bumblebee said. He slid her finger up past her pussy without touching it, running it over her stomach, and them up to touch her cheek. “I don’t care what parts you do or don’t have. You’re perfect, and I love you.”

Charlie turned and pressed a kiss to his finger as she laid her hand on it. She pushed it down, and Bee let her guide his touch down between her legs. She let out a low moan when his finger slid over the wet, swollen lips between her legs. Bee pressed up with the back of one of his thick fingers, and Charlie bucked, grinding herself against him. Each thrust of her hips against the warm better made her ache to be filled, to feel him moving inside her, but she was a little scared too. His fingers were so big, she wasn’t sure she could take them, which made her worry about whether she would be able to take his ‘spike’.

“Let me see you,” she said. Bee nodded, and Charlie heard the tell-tale sound of transformation as two panels on Bee’s crotch folded away, and a massive cock… spike slid out. It was easily thicker than her arm, and longer than her arm from the elbow down, and it was beautiful. It was the same shape as a human cock, but made of rings of yellow, the same color as his plating, each edged with silver, and between them, glowing electric blue rings, while the entire head was the same glowing electric blue. Spark rings Bee had called them when he described it. She stood there, staring at it, transfixed. She knew there was no way she’d be able to take it all. Maybe with practice, she’d know a girl in college who wasn’t shy about how much she liked taking her girlfriend’s entire fist, but not today. Not her first time. She wanted too though. Just seeing Bee like this made her want all of him filling her up.

She gasped as she felt his finger shift, parting her folds, and looked at his face. He was nervous, she could tell. Maybe more nervous than she has been that he would be disappointed by the part she lacked.

“It’s beautiful,” she said. “You’re beautiful. But Bee, it’s really big, and I don’t think I can take it. Not my first time doing this.”

The blue glow from earlier returned, shining out from between the seems of his faceplate as he blushed hard.

“What?” she asked.

“I’ve never been called big before,” he said, and Charlie laughed.

“I’d say maybe you should have started dating human girls sooner, but I don’t want to share you.”

“You won’t have too,” Bee said. “You’re all I want.” As if to emphasize his point, be pressed her finger up, dragging a moan out of Charlie.

“Oh, God,” she said as she grabbed the finger with both hands, holding on to keep from falling over.

“You’re so wet,” Bee said, and all Charlie could do was nod her head. “Primus, I want to be inside of you.”

Charlie looked over at his spike again, torn between the desire to feel him in her, and the knowledge that he was just too big. “I want that too,” she said.

“Let’s try this,” Bee said and closed his eyes. She heard a sound like exhaust fans running, and then the sound of transformation as his spike split into dozens, or maybe hundreds of small panels and started folding in on itself before closing back up. When it was done, Bee was still huge, but more manageable. Still maybe ten inches or so, and still thick, but more like three of her fingers thick, and she knew she could take that much from experience.

Bee opened his eyes. “Better?” he asked.

Charlie nodded. “Yeah,” she said, her voice ragged.

“Then can we…?”

Charlie smiled, and pushed down on the finger between her legs. Bee took the hint and pulled his hand away. Charlie missed it the moment it was gone, but she kept her eyes on the prize as she walked towards Bee. She could feel his eyes on her as she climbed up onto his leg, and then took a moment to find a spot where she could kneel down. She glanced up at him, giving him a smile as she reached out and touched his spike for the first time. She started with one of the yellow bands, running her fingers along it, testing the texture and the temperature. She felt Bee shudder under her as she touched him, and heard the exhaust fans speed up a bit, but then, she let her fingers slip down to one of the glowing blue rings.

Charlie didn’t have words to describe what happened. Not really. She could say it felt like she and Bee were connected, like they could feel everything the other felt, but that didn’t really encompass all of it. It felt bigger than that, like for a moment, the line between them vanished, like she stopped being Charlie and he stopped being Bumblebee, and there was just one person left that was made up of all the parts of both of them. All the pain, all the joy, and the love they had belonged to all of them. It didn’t matter whose fingers were wrapped around whose spike, because they were one, and they could feel the hand wrapped around them, and feel the firmness of the spike in their hand. They could feel their valve lubricating itself and feel their pussy aching to be filled. They found feel the lose of their father, of all the friends sacrificed on the alter of Decepticon avarice, and they could feel the unending joy that just the hope of a life together brought them.

The moment was over almost as quickly as it began, but when it was over, Charlie could still feel the connection to Bee through the spark ring she was touching. She could still feel his anticipation and desire, an knew he could feel hers, and God, she didn’t want to wait anymore. She pushed his spike flat against his stomach, and straddled it, lowering herself until her pussy was pressed against the underside and rocking her hips, dragging herself up and down his length.

“Oh, Primus,” Bee moaned, and Charlie bit her lip, trying to hold back, because every time she slid over one of his spark rings, she felt a little electric shock right in her clit, and it was driving her crazy.

“I want to be inside you,” Bee said.

Charlie nodded and she slid forward, dragging her wet pussy up the entire length of his shaft. She gasped when she felt his tip press into her entrance, and she held still for just a moment, taking a deep breath to prepare herself. When she was ready, she leaned forward to get the right angle, then rolled her hips. Both of them moaned as Charlie felt the tip of Bee’s spike push inside her. She held still for another moment, bracing herself for what she knew was coming. One deep breath, then another, then another, and then she rocked back, forcing his shaft inside her.

It hurt. God, it hurt. Even at his smaller size, he was still too big for her. It hurt, and Charlie loved the way it felt. She loved the burn as his spike stretched her, she loved the way her muscled ached and quivered from the strain. She loved the way it felt like he was so big it was going to split her in half. She could feel the pain, and she loved it, but she could also feel Bee inside her, and both physically and spiritually. She was wrapped around so many of his spark rings, and she could feel how good it felt to be buried inside her, to feel her soft, wet walls squeezing his spike, to feel her excitement through the connection feeding his own, until there was a feedback loop of pleasure and desire and had Charlie moving, had her lifting up, and then driving herself down onto him, taking more and more with each thrust, until he was root deep inside her each time and it was all he could do not to come.

“It’s okay. Don’t hold back,” Charlie whispered, because she wanted to feel him come insider her.

“Not yet,” he said. “I…” He reached up, rubbing her cheek with the tip of one finger. “Are you sure?”

“About what?”

“That you want to be my Conjunx,” he asked. “It can’t be undone.”

“Yes,” she said. “I want you, Bee. Forever.”

“I love you,” Bee said as the panels of his chest started moving, opening to reveal a sphere that was glowing the same bright, electric blue as his eyes.

“What is it?”

“My spark,” Bee said. “Touch me there.”

Charlie leaned forward, bracing herself with her left hand as she continued to slide up and down Bee’s spike, ignoring the burning ache in her legs and all the other ways her body was telling her she was asking to much of it. She focused on the feel of Bee inside her, on the overwhelming feelings of pleasure and love flowing through the connection she felt, and then she reached out with her right hand and touched Bee’s spark.

The feeling of oneness they’d had when Charlie had first touched one of his spark rings came back, stronger and more intense than before. They flowed into each other, every part of each of them touching every other part. Coming, overloading, both the words describing what was happening to them as their spike filled their pussy with transfluid, as they threw their head and their helm back and screamed their pleasure to the heaves and the well of all sparks, as their soul and spark shattered into countless pieces, only to merge back together into something new and unique that filled both of them with life and connected them through life and beyond.

The walls that separated them, that defined Charlie and Bee as separate people slowly came back. They both regretted their return, longing to be together forever, but it was clear those walls weren’t as firm and solid as they once had been, and that there were now places where the walls didn’t exist, and the lifeforce they now shared flowed back and forth with ease.

Exhaustion tugged at the corners of Charlie’s awareness, and she lifted her hand away from Bee’s spark, watching as the panels slid closed, locking it away and keeping it safe for her. She felt Bee’s hands around her waist and smiled as he gently lifted her off is spike. She lay against his chest panels and heard the sound of transformation telling her Bee was putting away his spike and valve, until next time.

She smiled as she rubbed her hand over his chest plates, because there would be a next time. There would be so many next times. Bee was hers, and she was his, and they were one and the same, forever.

“I love you,” she said, feeling the sentiment echoed through their bond as Bee gently stroked her hair.

“I love you too,” he said. “Sleep now.”

* * *

Charlie followed Bee to a small clearing in the woods, not too far from the one where they’d spent the afternoon. She was in her corvette, which was loaded with most of what she was taking with her. Clothes, tools, her cassettes. Her textbooks and all the engineering references she’d collected during college had gone into Bee’s trunk.

It had been a bit of a battle getting everything loaded considering how sore she was, and she was thankful that Bee’s holoform was there to help. She only wished it could have helped with her mother’s reaction. Her mom hadn’t been happy when she told her the news and had spent the whole time Charlie was packing alternately crying and yelling. Crying because Charlie was leaving and yelling because Charlie was following Bee into danger. Ron had been strangely quiet about it, comforting her mom when she was crying, but never saying anything that might be considering taking a side. Otis had just hugged her and told her not to be a stranger. Well, that and perving on Bee’s holoform until their mom had smacked him for it.

When Bee and the corvette were loaded, Charlie had hugged her mom tightly, and promised that she would call as often as she could. Her mom had hugged her back, and then told both Bee and his holoform that they had better take care of her little girl. Bee had sworn on his life that he would, and that had been that. They’d headed out with Bee in the lead.

Bee came to a stop, and she pulled up next to him and rolled down the window.

“Just a minute while I call base,” Bee said.

“Okay.”

“Bumblebee to ground bridge control. I need a bridge at my departure location, two vehicles incoming.”

“Roger that, Bumblebee. Please provide ident of second passenger.”

“Second passenger is known traveler. Agent Burns can confirm ID upon arrival.”

“Understood. Initiating Ground Bridge.”

Charlie watched as a bright blue green portal appeared at the far end of the clearing. She glanced over at Bumblebee, feeling more than a little nervous.

“It’ll be fine,” he said, and then he drove forward towards the portal. Charlie followed, watching as Bee disappeared into the swirl of light, and then as the world around her vanished, only to be replaced with a room that reminded her a bit too much of the one where she’d found Bee dead four years earlier. The room was filled with computers and with weapons emplacements, both human and Autobot sized, but what really caught her attention was the small crowd gathered on the side of the room opposite the portal.

She recognized Optimus Prime from the message she’d seen in the forest, and she recognized Burns, because she would never forget his face after what he’d done to Bee. There was a redheaded woman standing next to Burns she didn’t recognize, and two other bots next to Optimus Prime. One was a gorgeous red and black femme bot, with big wings that had fans embedded in them, and a face painted up Kabuki style. The other bot was a bit taller, with a candy apple red paint job with an orange and yellow firebird logo on his chest, and a bit yellow spoiler sticking up off his back.

Charlie followed Bee across the room and stopped in front of Optimus. Bee transformed, and Charlie turned the corvette off and got out as the portal closed behind them. She looked around, she spotted another crowd of bots off to the side. A pink and white femme bot, a big, round green bot, and a white, blue and red but with a visor over his eyes and the front end of a Porsche for a chest. There were three kids standing with them. A boy who was maybe sixteen or seventeen, a Japanese girl with pink highlights in her hair who was maybe a little younger, and a small Latino boy who was maybe twelve.

“Charlie,” Bee said, and she turned to face him. “These are my friends Windblade, Hot Rod and Courtney,” he said, pointing to the winged femme bot, the red firebird and the redheaded human woman in turn. “The pink bot over there is Arcee, the big green guy is Bulkhead, and the guy wearing the Porsche is Jazz. The humans with them are Jack, Miko, and Raf.” The girl with the pink highlights gave a little wave. “You’ve already met agent burns, and this is Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobot resistance and last of the Primes.”

“Optimus, everyone, this is Charlie Watson.”

Optimus knelt down in front of her, which didn’t really bring him down to her level, but was a nice gesture. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Ms. Watson. Bumblebee has told us all a great deal about you.”

“All good things, I hope.”

“He has been somewhat critical of your affection for a band called ‘The Smiths’, but otherwise, there was been nothing but praise.”

Charlie turned to Bee, who was glowing blue through his face plates. “After everything I’ve done for you, you treat me like this?”

Bee raised one of his chest plates to expose his radio, and Don’t You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds started blaring out. Charlie just flipped Bee the bird and turned back to Optimus.

“It’s nice to meet you to, Sir. I know it wasn’t really your intent, but I do want to thank you for sending Bee to me. He helped me out of a really hard place when we first met, and I can’t image what my life would be like if he hadn’t come into it.”

“A happy outcome, whatever my intent. I understand you’ll be staying with us for some time.”

“As long as Bee will have me,” Charlie said.

Bee took a step closer to her, and gently laid a hand on her shoulder. She felt a flood of nerves through their bond, so she reached up, resting her hand on one of his fingers, and just focused on how much she loved him, how proud she was of him, and how happy she was to be with him, hoping he could feel those things in return. It seemed to work, because he straightened up and looked Optimus in the eye.

“She’s my Conjunx,” he said, and Charlie immediately understood where Bee’s nerves came from, because the effect of his words was both immediate, and profound. Windblade’s eyes seemed to double in both side and brightness and turned right towards her. Bulkhead’s jaw dropped so far there was a clang as it hit his chest plates. Jazz just stood there with his mouth open. Arcee looked like she was trying to solve a math problem, but it was Hot Rod’s reaction that was the most vocal.

“Is that even possible?” Hot Rod asked, before getting an elbow in the gut from Windblade.

Bee pulled Charlie a little closer. “We were able to forge the connection.”

Optimus stared at Bumblebee for a moment, then looked down at Charlie before he stood up. “Then allow me to be the first to congratulate both of you on your new bond.” He reached out and rested a hand on Bumblebee’s shoulder. “And you, my friend… I am glad you found what you were looking for.”

“Thank you, Optimus,” Bee said. He turned to the red head and gestured towards Charlie’s corvette. “Courtney, would you mind?”

“Would I mind taking care of an absolutely Cherry 58 corvette?” She shook her head and gave a long-suffering sigh. “The things I do for you, Bee.” She smiled up at him. “Seriously, you go take care of your girl. I’ll take care of her baby.”

Charlie looked at Courtney for a moment, then looked at her corvette.

“I take good care of her, I promise,” Courtney said. 

Charlie nodded and tossed her the keys. “Not a scratch,” she said.

“Not so much as a fingerprint,” Courtney said.

“Come on,” Bumblebee said. “Let’s get you settled.”

* * *

Bumblebee lay in his rack for the second night in a row, not able to slip off into a stasis, but this time, it wasn’t anger and frustration keeping his processor running. This time, it was a sense of wonder. Charlie lay next to him, on one of the human stasis pads. A stopgap measure until Wheeljack could overhaul Bee’s berth, making a stasis shelf that would be comfortable for them both, and added one of the little maintenance rooms humans required for Charlie. Wheeljack had said the refit shouldn’t take more than a day, something which Bee was happy to hear, because he wanted more than anything for Charlie to feel at home.

He couldn’t quite believe his luck, that Charlie returned his feelings, that she had wanted to be his conjunx, but it was true. Even while she was in stasis, or sleep, or whatever humans called it, he could feel her happiness and contentment at being with him, and he could feel the pull that drew them both together. A day ago, he had been angry and bitter, because of the humans Arcee, Jazz and Bulkhead had been assigned to protect, but now, he was happier than he could ever remember being since the day he was forged.

“You’re thinking too loud,” Charlie mumbled as she snuggled a little closer to his arm.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I just…”

She opened her eyes and looked up at him, and he could feel through the bond that she understood. Could feel his own feelings reflected in hers.

“It’s real, Bee,” she said. “I’m here. You’re here. We’re together, forever.”

He ran a finger over her hair, smiling as he felt her lean into the touch. “Forever. I like the sound of that.”

“Just promise me one thing?”

“Anything,” Bee said.

“Promise you’ll never tell my mom we got married and didn’t invite her,” Charlie said. “Because if you do, forever will be pretty short, because she’ll kill us both.”

Bee laughed. “I promise,” he said.

“Good,” she said. “Now, come here and act like it’s our honeymoon.”

“What’s a honeymoon?”

Charlie smiled. “I’ll give you a little hint,” she said as she reached for the hem of her shirt.


End file.
